18 U.S.C. § 1708 — Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally
submitted 78 years ago by ch. 645 to r/title-18-CRIMES-AND-CRIMINAL-PROCEDURE · 208 words · no verdicts yet
This section makes it a crime to steal, take, obtain by deception, remove contents from, hide, embezzle, or destroy mail or items in mail, and to knowingly buy, receive, conceal, or possess such stolen mail. The penalty is the fine or imprisonment stated in the section.
A person violates this section by stealing, taking, or removing mail, or obtaining or trying to obtain it by fraud or deception, from mail, a post office or station, a mailbox, a mail receptacle, a mail route, or another authorized mail depository, or from a letter or mail carrier. This includes a letter, postal card, package, bag, mail, or anything inside it. The person also violates the section by hiding, embezzling, or destroying such mail or anything inside it, or by removing anything from it. The same rule applies to a letter, postal card, package, bag, mail, or item inside it left for collection on or next to a collection box or other authorized depository. A person also violates the section by knowingly buying, receiving, concealing, or unlawfully possessing mail or an item that was stolen, taken, embezzled, or removed in the ways described. The person may be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or abstracts or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein; or
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein which has been left for collection upon or adjacent to a collection box or other authorized depository of mail matter; or
Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Source credit: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 779; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 39, 63 Stat. 95; July 1, 1952, ch. 535, 66 Stat. 314; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
- 1948Enacted · Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 645 · 62 Stat. 779
- 1949Amended · Act of May 24, 1949, ch. 139 · 63 Stat. 95
- 1952Amended · Act of July 1, 1952, ch. 535 · 66 Stat. 314
- 1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-322 · 108 Stat. 2147
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 645 on 1948-06-25.
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